Vol 1 Chapter 0 – Prologue ①【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

In the Demon Lord’s castle, jutting ominously from a landmass floating high in the sky.

The battle for the fate of the world had raged for three days and three nights.

The final conclusion to grace this heroic tale. Ideally, they had wanted to broadcast far and wide into the future that justice—the side of humanity—had triumphed over evil.

But reality wasn’t so kind.

This struggle would be told not as a story, but as true history.

The black-clad knight, Allen Norsh, realized that unfortunately, they were in a situation where victory was far from guaranteed.

“——You are the only one left, Obsidian Knight.”

The being reigning before his eyes was a genuine monster. A goat’s face covered in countless eyeballs, and a massive, beast-like body shrouded in black fur.

A monstrosity with two pairs of demonic wings sprouting from its back and a dragon’s head at the tip of its tail. This being, who called himself the 32nd Demon Lord 【Evil Eye King Gaivis】, was the very root cause of the Human-Demon Great War that had waged for five years.

Having subjugated the thirteen demon races inhabiting the Demon Continent, his ambition knew no bounds as he invaded the Human Continent, targeting the territories of the human nations.

He burned fields to ash, trampled cities, abducted the people, and greedily devoured their souls to increase his own power.

Because of him, the Human Alliance suffered the devastating loss of thirty percent of its population. However, humanity also had hope.

The strongest heroes representing the six races recognized as humanity. Thanks to their valiant efforts, the eight Demon Generals acting as the Demon Lord’s confidants had been slain, and they successfully repelled the demon army.

Riding that momentum, the heroes stormed the enemy’s stronghold, the Evil Eye Castle—an eerie demon’s den floating in the sky.

But their rapid advance ended there.

The six heroes who were their ray of hope. Now, with the exception of the black-clad knight, the members of the world’s proudest and strongest order of knights assembled from the human races—the 【World Knights】—lay defeated before the Demon Lord.

“……Go ahead and look behind you, Allen Norsh. You cannot hide your disappointment at the pathetic sight of your comrades, can you? They may be called heroes, but they are merely human after all. Before me, they are nothing more than insects. O 【World Knights】, you are destined to save nothing, ending in completely pointless deaths.”

The countless eyes plastered across the Demon Lord’s face narrowed as he spoke in high spirits, the corners of his mouth pulling up in a hideous sneer.

“——Pointless deaths?”

Seeing Gaivis bare his teeth to mock him, Allen smiled right back.

“Look who’s talking. The wounds we inflicted aren’t that shallow. My comrades’ struggles weren’t pointless. We are steadily chipping away at your life.”

Gaivis’s form reflected in the eyes of Allen, who declared this with a hint of pride. Countless wounds, big and small, were carved into the robust Demon Lord’s body, and purple essence continued to flow from them.

“……Hmph, they are all but scratches.”

Gaivis puffed out his chest proudly. However, he couldn’t hide the painful reality. The three-day mortal struggle of the heroes had absolutely not been in vain.

“You all fought well. Leave the rest to me.”

Letting his black cloak flutter, the last remaining strongest hero, Allen Norsh, reached with his right hand—the opposite of his sword-wielding left hand—and drew the short staff tucked into his belt.

“From here on out, I’m more than enough on my own.”

That staff was a hidden treasure of the Holy Empire, given to them for emergency escape. Allen pointed the magic staff, which could teleport multiple people to another location, at his comrades.

Seeing the profile of the black-clad knight raising the corners of his mouth in a fleeting smile, the battered and broken heroes made their lips tremble.

“……Wait, don’t leave Eufa all alone…… Allen……!”

A girl with jade hair tied in twintails, wearing a deep green cape beneath a pure white cloak.

Bleeding heavily from her forehead, the hero of the Fairy Elf-kin, Eufaria Oberon, reached a hand out to the lone Allen with hollow eyes while remaining face-down.

“Allen…… I’ll…… stay…… I can still…… fight with you……”

A massive frame easily exceeding four meters in height. The hero of the Giant-kin, Gavreel, was kneeling on one knee, forcefully holding back the blood spilling from his missing left arm with his right hand.

“……It’s reckless to do it alone…… I’m getting up now…… so just wait a little longer……”

A tall, beautiful woman with a strikingly good figure and long crimson hair tied into a single tail staggered to her feet, her eyes glistening with tears as she used her katana as a makeshift cane.

She wore traditional garb that distinctively matched her hair color, but it had sustained so much damage it was reduced to mere rags, hardly qualifying as clothing anymore.

The hero of the Amazoness-kin, Labilia Sigid, bit her lip, frustrated with her body’s inability to move properly.

“……Allen-kun…… If you use that staff…… I’ll hate you for the rest of my life!”

A baby-faced boy wearing round glasses and looking no older than twelve wiped his bloody mouth. Ignoring the gaping hole in his stomach, the hero of the Dwarf-kin, Nozes Megistos, shouted at Allen in a strong tone.

“——No way, Allen……! Even if I survive by sacrificing you…… it wouldn’t make me happy at all!?”

With his pride and joy—his legs—broken, he crawled toward Allen like a caterpillar. The hero of the Beast-kin, Leonhardt, who was clad in silver armor and adored the black-clad knight as his master, pleaded.

However, turning a deaf ear to his comrades who were weaving words with desperate expressions, Allen kept his eyes forward and drove the staff into the floor. Angelic wings sprouted from the shining silver gem at the tip of the staff, emitting a blinding light.

That warm light began to envelop the bodies of all the heroes except Allen.

“——Even if it kills me, I will take down Gaivis. So please, rest easy.”

Words of condemnation flew one after another from his comrades toward Allen, who had resolved himself to this farewell.

“……Sacrificing yourself to let only your comrades escape from the jaws of death, you avatar of self-sacrifice. But do you really think you can escape me!?”

Gaivis flapped his pitch-black wings, levitating his massive frame into the air while raising both hands to the heavens.

The aftermath of their fierce battle had already caused Gaivis’s castle to collapse without a trace. The ceiling had been gone for a long time.

Thanks to that, the massive, pitch-black magic circle that appeared as if to blanket the sky was clearly visible.

“——Dark Curse: 〈Stellar Star of Final Flames〉.”

The moment he chanted, the magic circle shone brilliantly and began to crackle with lightning. Then, with violent sparks, what emerged from the magic circle was a sphere of hellfire easily surpassing the size of the Demon Lord’s castle—a black sun, so to speak.

A mass of black flames that looked capable of blowing away the planet itself.

Behind Allen, the heroes representing their respective races froze in place, still crawling on the ground.

One stared blankly up at the sky. One glared hatefully at the Demon Lord. One reached a hand out toward the back of the black-clad knight standing alone. One collapsed to their knees, utterly powerless and frustrated. One——.

“This is the end.”

Allen challenged this spectacle that heralded the end of the world with a single sword.

“——You’re the one whose end has come, Evil Eye King Gaivis.”

The hero sung of by the people as the “Obsidian Knight” was always calm and collected. Even in the face of the Demon Lord’s greatest curse, he remained perfectly composed, his expression not changing in the slightest.

He muttered to his beloved sword gripped in his dominant hand.

“Give me the power to shatter the black sun.”

At that moment, the sword trembled.

In the blink of an eye, the blade became clad in purplish-blue lightning, emitting a phosphorescent glow.

“Allen, no, you can’t use that power……!”

Knowing the traits of the purple sword Allen wielded, Eufaria cried out with tears in her eyes.

An ancient magical tool scattered across the world—a type of 【Ancient Artifact】.

The demonic sword 【Lightning Annihilation Sword Asmodeus】, counted as one of the seven weapons with exceptionally immense power, the 【Armaments of Mortal Sin】. In exchange for its immense power, that sword claimed the user’s lifespan as a price.

In other words, to oppose the Demon Lord, Allen intended to use his own life as kindling. The knight kicked off the ground toward the pitch-black sun.

Cloak flapping behind him, he kicked off the air as if ascending a staircase, soaring up to the heavens at the speed of a shooting star.

“……Asmodeus, is it? To steal the power of the god we revere and wield it as if it were your own is worthy of ten thousand deaths.”

Gaivis swung his mighty arm, dropping the black sun toward the 【World Knights】.

“It’s reckless, Allen!?”

Even high in the sky, the heat of the black sun scorched the skin. It melted the earth.

That was how intensely hot it was. Unable to bear it, the hero of the Amazoness-kin, Labilia, screamed, but Allen charged in a straight line toward the sun and brought his beloved sword, gripped in both hands, swinging down from high above his head.

The strike of the strongest hero and the maximum-power curse of the Demon Lord clashed. From an outsider’s perspective, the overwhelming difference in mass and scale made it look like an ant challenging a dragon.

But,

“A-Amazing……”

“……Allen……!”

What reflected in the eyes of the heroes was the sight of the black-clad knight stemming the tide of the falling black sun with a single sword, accompanied by a tremendous roar.

“——I bought us some time.”

In that instant, the effects of the teleportation staff activated.

“You detestable Obsidian Knight!”

The Demon Lord roared,

“——Everyone, I leave this world in your hands.”

The hero smiled softly amidst the flames.

“Allen, wai——!”

The very last thing the heroes saw was the brave figure of the black-clad knight struggling to keep from being swallowed by the darkness.